Lies
by Laughing
Summary: Occurs a few months after the book ends. Told from Pony's and Darry's point of view. School has started again, and Pony is in his sophomore year. Everything was going okay until Darry and Soda started keeping things from him. Complete!
1. Lying?

Hey, so this is my first fanfic. I actually do want you guys to tell me if I'm not portraying the characters right, or make grammar errors etc.

**Disclaimer** I do not own _The Outsiders_ or any of S.E. Hinton's characters.

"Alright, give it here." Darry finally said.

We were sitting at the dinner table and had just finished eating. Darry knew that today was report card day, and I'd yet to show him mine. I got up silently and went to my room to retrieve it. I unceremoniously handed it to him.

He glanced at me, and then opened it. I watched as his eyes flew down the page, and then reread it again more slowly, comparing them with last term's grades. I watched the corners of his mouth begin to rise up, and knowing he was satisfied, I looked over at Soda. He looked curious, and somewhat anxious to see it too. Sometimes Soda gets the biggest kick out of the smallest things.

"Pony, this is great. Straight A's." He said, showing it to Soda. "Of course, you could always bring your geometry grade up a little, but still. Why didn't you show me this earlier?"

_Because I didn't want you to start acting real proud of me and make Soda feel bad_ I thought. I knew that Soda sometimes wished he could have brought home good grades and had Darry be proud of him for it too. But of course, I didn't say any of that out loud. I just shrugged nonchalantly and said, "It's not that big of a deal."

Darry looked at me strangely for a minute. "Well, even if you don't think it is, I do." Which was about as close as he was going to get to saying he was proud of me. I guess I shouldn't have been so worried about Soda. But Darry has his moments, when he's in a good mood, when he goes off on a tirade of praise. Granted, this has only been directed at me twice in my entire life, but you can never be too careful. And Soda didn't have a whole lot going for him right now, seeing as how he'd been fired from the DX station where he worked. I still don't the whole story behind that—Soda won't tell me. But I think Darry knows.

Soda handed it back to me with a low whistle. "Whew-ee. Way to go Pone." He said with a smile.

I got up to put the report card back in my room. When I went back into the kitchen, Soda had started the dishes already, and Darry was still sitting at the table. I took my place beside Soda as the unofficial dryer of the dishes.

"What time is it?" Soda asked absently.

"Quarter past seven." Darry replied.

"Oh, uh, okay." He began speed washing the dishes.

"Got somewhere you're supposed to be?" Darry asked, noticing his rush.

"Yeah, I've got a date." Soda said, smiling at me.

"Well then let Ponyboy finish up the dishes. They're not gonna get clean like that." Darry said. He didn't even ask who he was going out with, or where the heck he was getting the money to pay for it, seeing as how Soda's last paycheck had gone to fix the car and pay the water bill.

"Ha!" Soda smirked, prancing out of the kitchen, free of dishes duty.

I sighed audibly, left with half a sink full of dirty dishes. I hated doing the dishes.

When I had finished drying the last clean dish, I looked back at the table where Darry had been. He wasn't there anymore.

I wandered into my and Soda's bedroom, and pulled out my homework. I glanced at the equations staring up at me from the paper, and surrendered. I would do it tomorrow before class.

Walking back into the living room, I saw Darry and Soda talking animatedly in low voices. They seemed to be arguing about something.

They heard me enter the room, and immediately stopped talking. Soda was still glaring at Darry.

"See you later Pony." He said, and walked out the door.

"What that all about?" I asked Darry.

"What? Oh, nothing. We just, uh, had different opinion about Soda's curfew. Want me to look over your math homework?" Darry said, quickly changing the subject.

I could tell by the way his eyes flitted around that he was lying to me.


	2. Meredith

AN_: Thanks so much for all the great reviews. Even though I think some of you are overestimating my plot ability, I'll try not to let you down. Thanks especially to marsonfire, keep letting me know if I'm getting the characters right. I am going to keep working on trying to stop making Pony sound like _me_, and more like _Pony_. This is a short chapter, but I've already started on the next one, so it should be up soon. _

Disclaimer:** I don't own _The Outsiders,_ or any of the characters except Meredith. **

Pony's POV

Soda didn't come home until almost two in the morning. I pretended to be asleep when he came in and got ready for bed. When he finally threw himself under the covers, I turned over to look at him.

He smiled at me, "Pony. Go back to sleep, kid."

"Soda, where were you tonight?" I asked, ignoring him.

He narrowed his eyes a little. "I already told you. I was on a date."

"With who?"

"Just this girl I know. Her name's Betsy, and I met her at the DX, okay?"

He sounded like he just wanted to go to sleep so I turned over. "Good night."

"'Night". He said, throwing his arm over me. His breathing got even after about thirty seconds, but I couldn't go back to sleep. I couldn't get over the feeling that he and Darry knew something important that they were purposely keeping from me. I just didn't know why they would do that.

I must have fallen asleep eventually though because the next morning Darry came barging into our room at half past seven, yelling for us to get up. Soda and I simultaneously groaned and turned over so that our backs were to him.

"Ponyboy, Sodapop, we _don't_ have time for this this morning. Come on, I already let you sleep way longer than I should've." Darry said.

Soda raised an arm to acknowledge him, mumbling "we 'preciate that, Dare."

Darry suddenly pulled the blanket off of us, and all but dragged us out of bed.

"Pony, go grab a quick shower. You're going to be late for school." He commanded.

Soda seemed to think that this was his opportunity to go to back to bed.

"Not so fast, little buddy. You are about to experience the powerful wonders of coffee." Darry said, pulling him into the kitchen. "I don't hear water running!" He called to me.

I made my way to the bathroom, and turned the water on to satisfy Darry. I sighed, leaning against the wall of the shower.

That day at school dragged by. Different scenarios kept running through my head of what the heck Soda could have been doing last night, and what he and Darry were talking about but refused to tell me. We mostly told each other everything, not necessarily out of trust for each other, but because we were pretty much living on top of each other.

Darry's POV

Meredith was already there when I got to work that day. She usually wasn't at the site this early. She was Earl's sister, and was always hanging around the construction sites. Sometimes she brought us lunch, but not often. Some of the guys had been bugging her to bring food, and she told them shortly that she wasn't their mother.

Meredith was curt and sassy to most people, and if she wasn't firing off sarcasm, she was pretty quiet. She told me once that she only spoke to shut people up. Incidentally, I stopped talking when she said that, and she laughed. She had a strong, confident laugh that sounded out of place with her tiny body. She couldn't have weighed over a hundred pounds, and didn't look to be over 5'4".

"You're late Curtis!" Meredith called.

I looked at my watch. She was right, it was ten minutes after eight o'clock. I looked around, and was relieved to see that the supervisor wasn't here yet. Meredith came over to me and whispered in my ear.

"I won't tell." She walked away without another word.

Meredith left after a few hours, and the rest of the day at work was uneventful.

On my way home at four, I saw a familiar figure walking down the road. Why wasn't he in school?


	3. November 7th

AN at the end

Disclaimer: **I do not own _The Outsiders_ or any of S.E. Hinton's characters. **

Pony's POV

_Uh Oh._ Was all I could think once I saw Darry's truck pull over to the side of the road in front of me. He was gonna kill me. Unless he was really tired, and just thought I didn't have a ride home from school. Yeah, maybe that's what he'll think. That Two Bit left without me or something. Of course, I couldn't have possibly walked this far in the short time that school had been out. Maybe…I'll tell him that I ran, if he asks. But maybe he won't.

I walked slowly towards his truck. He looked mad. His eyes had turned cold and were focused on me. But he wasn't clenching his jaw, yet, and I took that as a good sign. Ever since we had promised Soda we wouldn't fight anymore Darry had tried to stop yelling so much. He thought that he could keep his anger inside as long as he kept his voice even. But I had learned how to read his facial expressions to calculate how mad he was. Like if his eyebrows went up, it wasn't that bad. But if they furrowed together, it was getting worse. When his eyes narrowed, all it meant was that he was trying to intimidate me. When they got all cold and hard like they were now, things weren't good, but he was willing to let me explain. If he clenched his jaw, then he was trying to calm himself down, and you better not talk to him until he does. Now if he started breathing through his mouth and avoided my eyes, then I was about to be grounded for all eternity, no matter how good of an excuse I had. So I considered myself lucky, and got into the truck.

"Hi Darry." I said.

He raised an eyebrow. "You want to tell me what you're doing all the way over here? School hasn't been out for that long."

"Um." He had caught on faster than I was counting on. "Well…" I tried to decide whether or not to tell him the truth.

"The truth, Ponyboy." Darry said his voice a little harder.

I sighed. "I didn't go." I said quietly.

"You didn't go where?" He was gonna make me say it.

"I didn't go to school today." I said.

I could see the muscles in his jaw begin to tighten. I waited.

And waited.

"Why not?" He asked through clenched teeth.

"It's kind of a long story." I said, looking down.

"Well I've got a hell of a lot of time, but first tell me where you were." Darry said, finally starting the truck again.

"I was at the cemetery most of the day." I said, measuring my words.

"The _cemetery_?" He took a breath. "Where else?"

I glanced at him, and then fixed my eyes on the glove box. "The park. The fountain, at the park." I had actually considered going all the way to Windrixville, but I had decided that I didn't want to get caught so I didn't go. But seeing as how I'd been spotted anyway, I guess I could have gone.

Darry finally looked at me. I knew that he must have made the connection. Cemetery, park, fountain; Johnny.

"Why?" He asked. His voice was just as severe, but his eyes had calmed down a little.

"Because it's November 7th. And…Johnny…and I, we always skipped school on November 7th." I said slowly.

"Why?" He asked again.

"He," I figured I didn't have to say his name again. Darry knew who I was talking about, "had a brother. Timothy. Timothy was five years older than him. Right before he moved to Tulsa, Timothy died. Er, was killed. Their dad." I meaningfully

"How old was Timothy?" Darry asked.

"I don't know. 9 or 10. Their dad made him watch."

"Okay...that's awful." Darry said. "But what does it have to do with you?"

"Timothy was killed on November 7th, and he was always upset that day. He finally told me about Timothy in middle school, and we just kind of always blew off school that day. He said that he couldn't just sit in school all day, remembering that night, without screaming about it to the whole world." I said very quietly. This was the most I had talked about Johnny since he died.

"And so you skipped school even though Johnny isn't here?" Darry asked.

I winced when he said Johnny's name. "Yeah."

"Why? I mean, I don't see the point."

"I know you don't." I muttered.

He gave me a look. "Look, Pony, I get that you miss him. And that you felt obligated to skip school today or something. Maybe you wanted things to be like they used to? Well, they're not. I mean, kid, you can't just skip school because you miss Johnny. And you were walking by yourself again. What if something had happened? The cemetery is all the way on the other side of town. What if some socs had decided to skip a period or two and seen you in their territory? Ponyboy, did you even think about what could have happened to you?" We had reached our house, but Darry just parked the car in the street, and didn't make an attempt to get out.

I sighed. "No. Darry, we had been doing this for years. Don't you think I know how to be careful?"

"No, I don't. If you had been careful, then you wouldn't have gone off by yourself all day. Things are starting to get tense again with us and the socs. Didn't you see Tim last week after they got in a fight? And Tim is a hell of a lot better fighter than you are."

"Thanks." I said dryly. "Can we go inside now?"

"I don't want you going anywhere this weekend. Or after school for the rest of the week." Darry said.

"But that's not fair!" I protested.

"Honestly Pony, you expected to get away with this?"

"It's not that big of a deal Darry."

"What do you think Mom and Dad would have done if they known that you were skipping school every year? I mean, it's one thing if it's just a one time impulse thing, but a completely other thing when you have it all planned out, and do it year after year, lying to—"

"_Mom knew_." I said, cutting him off. I got out of the truck and was in the house before Darry had even opened his door.

Two Bit was sitting on our couch, watching TV.

"Hey kid. Did I forget to pick you up after school?" He looked a little soused.

"Nah. Darry brought me home." I said, and sat down on the couch next to him.

Darry came in a few seconds later. He saw me with Two Bit.

"Ponyboy—"

I cut him off again. "Forget about it Darry." I got up and went to my room. I heard him leave a few minutes later to go his second job.

Soda came home a few hours later, and I decided I should start dinner. I could hear Steve challenge Two Bit to a poker game in the living room. Soda wandered into the kitchen after a few minutes.

"There you are." He said, smiling.

"Where else would I be? It's my night to make dinner." I said a little harsher than I'd meant to.

Soda only blinked. "What's up with you?" He asked, taking a bottle of food coloring from the cabinet.

"Oh, you know. Darry, school…"

"Oooh Darry and school. I'm hooked. Tell me more." He began adding red food coloring to the mashed potatoes.

After I told him the whole story, he cocked his head a little.

"What?" I asked.

"Well, it's just that this was all kind of a waste of time." Soda said slowly.

"What, you too?" I asked, starting to get angry again.

"No, it's just that today is November _eighth._"

AN_: Okay, so thanks again for all the reviews. And yeah, I realized that four was a little late for school to be out, but it was the earliest I could make Darry get off from work. So, I hope that by saying that it would have been too far for Pony to have walked made it a little better, but not really, I know. I might change it to like 3:40 or something, would that help?  
And by the way, I just realized that I still haven't answered any of the questions I created in the first chapter. Sorry about that. I'll write more about Soda's getting fired, and whatever he and Darry are keeping from Pony soon, I promise. By the way, does Darry seem too calm or anything in the car? Because I know that he would usually yell or something, but I'm trying to show that he's trying to stop. Let me know what needs to be improved. _


	4. Bank Robbers and Drug Dealers

Disclaimer:** I do not own _The Outsiders_** **or any of S.E. Hinton's characters**

Pony's POV

It was Saturday, so Darry didn't have to go to work that afternoon. His construction job was everyday when they did a housing development, but his other one was only five days a week. I'm not even sure what his other job is, exactly. Something to do with unloading trucks, I think.

Everybody was at our house—me, Soda, Darry, Two Bit, and Steve. I still didn't like Steve. And he still didn't like me, so it was pretty normal.

Soda was asleep on the couch because he hadn't been coming home till after one in the morning all week. He and Darry had been fighting lately. It was weird because they never fought.

Darry was sitting in his chair with a really old calculator and a stack of bills. He would sigh periodically, and reluctantly make out a check. I wondered if we were low on money since Soda didn't have a job anymore. Or maybe he did…maybe he was doing something at night that kept him out so late. But if he had a job, then what did he and Darry have to fight about?

I looked up from the book I was reading. Soda wasn't doing something illegal was he? Something like…no. I quickly dismissed the thought, and tried to get caught up in my book again. But I couldn't get the idea out of my head. Was my brother doing something wrong? I couldn't imagine Soda dealing, but what if was? It would make sense on one level. He and Darry would fight about it, he would be out late, they would keep it from me…it would have gotten him fired from the DX.

I closed my book. Now I definitely couldn't concentrate. I looked over at Soda. He didn't _look_ like a drug dealer. Not that I knew what one was supposed to look like, but still. They wouldn't be a happy go lucky seventeen year old who loved chocolate milk and horses. I mean, Soda was…well, he was Soda. His hair looked golden in the sun, and he only wore shoes when he had to. He wasn't one of those tough hoods who wore dark clothes and didn't care about their appearance or…_glory_. I thought about what Soda would look like to someone who didn't know him. He lived in the east side, wore grease in his hair, and could hold his own in a fight. He had several scars from rumbles and drag races, and he had been arrested more than once.

"Pony, I know I'm pretty to look at, but you don't have to stare." Soda said, apparently awake now.

"Shut up. Hey, what are you doing tonight?" I asked, trying not to look embarrassed.

Soda sat up and yawned. "I've got another date." He said.

Darry looked over at him sharply. He looked like he wanted to say something, but didn't. Soda avoided his gaze.

"If you wanna do something tonight Pony, I'll go with you." Two Bit offered. "We could pick us up some broads or something." He winked at me.

"I can't." I said, remembering I was grounded.

"No, go ahead and go." Darry surprised me by saying.

"W-what?" He never backed down on punishments.

"Well if you don't want to…"

"No, no I do. I was just um, surprised." I said.

Darry smiled a little and went back to his bills. He sure was in a good mood about something.

"Okay, well now that the prisoner has been set free…what does he want to do?" Two Bit asked.

"Bank job?" I suggested, and Darry raised an eyebrow at me.

"Sure, sure." Two Bit said easily. "I'll drive the getaway car, and you can sneak in there, grab the money, and run like the dickens. Hey, Stevie, do you have one of those bags with the money sign on it? 'Cause that would be really tuff."

Steve shook his head, and got up from his spot in front of the TV. "I gotta go to work. Wanna give me a ride?"

"Yeah, okay. I'll come pick you up later Pony." Two Bit said, getting up. "Oh hey, I almost forgot to ask. You want to be Bonnie or Clyde?" He laughed at his own joke, and walked out the door without waiting for an answer.

"I want you home by midnight, Pony." Darry said, looking at me. "Understand?"

"Yeah, sure."

"You too." He said pointedly to Soda.

Soda finally looked at him. "Darry…"

"No, Soda. You'll be home by midnight from your…_date_, or you won't go at all."

"I have to go." He said softly.

"Then you'll be home by midnight." Darry said.

"And if I'm not?" He asked just as softly.

Darry clenched his jaw. "How many _dates_ are you planning on going on?"

Soda looked down.

"You might as well tell me what's really going on. I know it's not just a date." I said.

Darry just said "Stay out of this Pony."

"You're dealing, aren't you?" I asked, ignoring him.

At that, Soda laughed. "No. I'm not dealing." He started laughing again.

"Then what are you doing?" I asked him.

Soda looked at Darry with pleading eyes.

AN:_ xodahmsoirxo: thank you! I'm glad you liked it, and that you thought Darry's reaction was okay. I'm also glad that you liked how Pony described Darry's facial expressions, because that was the funnest part to write. __  
__pheonix013: here you go! _

_I've already started writing the next chapter, so review quick! I'll probably update today or tomorrow. But don't expect updates to always be this quick because I'm iced in right now and can't go to church or school or anything, so this is basically all I can do. _:


	5. Some of the Truth

Disclaimer:**I do not own _The Outsiders, _or any of S.E. Hinton's characters**

Darry's POV

I looked at the clock, it was 11:40. They still have twenty minutes, I told myself. I had promised myself that I wouldn't start worrying or get mad at Soda until he was actually late.

I turned the TV on to distract myself. I felt pathetic. When had I turned into the guy who sat at home, waiting to see if his brothers would make curfew. I had a life too. _Yeah, 'had' being the key word there._ I thought sarcastically.

Two Bit dropped Pony off about five minutes later.

"Hi Darry." He said, sitting down on the couch.

He'd been in a much better mood ever since I had lifted his grounding. I wasn't sure how I felt about doing that. In normal circumstances, I wouldn't have, but he said that Mom had known and didn't care. That had made me feel like a real jerk. Especially since he was just starting to get better since Johnny and Dally died.

"Is Soda home yet?" He asked.

"Nope. But he's not late yet."

Pony nodded. We weren't usually alone together unless he was in trouble.

"By the way, don't be expecting to get out of being grounded so easily all the time." I said.

He grinned, "I know." There was a pause. "Hey Darry?"

"Yeah,"

"How come Soda got fired?" He asked tentatively.

"Um," I sighed. "I don't think that's for me to tell. You'll have to ask him."

"But you know?"

"Yeah…"

"Then why didn't he tell me?" Pony asked. I did think it was kind of weird that Soda hadn't told him. Usually Pony knew more about Soda than I did.

I shrugged. "I don't know." I said honestly.

"Well, what is he doing tonight?"

I didn't say anything.

"Come on Darry. He wants to tell me that, but you won't let him." He said, looking me in the eyes.

Just then, Soda walked in. He didn't look too happy.

Ponyboy ignored him. "Darry?" He persisted.

Soda caught on quick. "I'm going to tell him, Darry. I don't care anymore."

"Fine," I said tiredly. I got up and went to bed.

Ponyboy's POV

Soda walked into our bedroom and I followed him.

"How was the bank robbery?" Soda asked me.

"Oh, you know same old, same old." I said, anxious to find out what was going on.

"So…how's life?" He asked, grinning at me.

"Come _on_, Soda. Tell me?" I said, practically begging.

"Okay, okay. But it's really not that big of a deal. Darry's just being a prick."

I looked at him expectantly.

"All I'm doing is jockeying at the Slash J." Soda said innocently.

I raised an eyebrow and sat on the bed next to him. "So? What's wrong with that?"

"Well nothin', until 9 anyway. I ride a couple of races during the normal hours, and then…well ya know Buck? Yeah, well him and a coupla other guys, they come over to the Slash after a while. And Buck's got a key to the stables, so we race. And there's these other people who come and watch, and place bets. We've got this system worked out where the winning jockey gets ten percent of the money, and that's always at least twenty bucks…per race. We race for at least 3 hours, and each race is only a couple of minutes. So it adds up pretty quick. It's way more than I was making at DX when you add it to my regular paycheck and all. But…" He sighed. "Darry keeps saying that's it's really illegal. He says that it's trespassing, breaking and entering, loitering—not sure how he gets that one—underage gambling and all. But glory Pony. The money's so good, and the feeling you get…well you know how you feel when you get high?" Soda asked.

I gave him a blank look.

"Oh yeah, I guess you don't. And you shouldn't, ever." He added with a mock sternness. "Anyway, sometimes, you get this feeling like you're on top of the world. And that's how I feel when I'm racing in the dark." Soda's eyes said what his words couldn't.

"Huh." I said. "Yeah that's not nearly as exciting as some of the things I was imagining."

"Yeah, sorry. Your big brother's not a drug dealer, prostitute, or thief. Just a jockey." He winked at me, and pulled out a wad of bills from his pocket.

"Holy…" I said. I had never seen so much money in one place before.

Soda laughed, and handed me a ten dollar bill. "Go buy yourself something pretty."

He put the rest of the money in an envelope that was on the desk. "Well, I'm going to go see just how mad Darry is, and whether or not he feels like accepting my money. Good night."

_AN: Sorry, I had to change something. I figured out that fifty dollars worth of bets per race probably wasn't realistic, so I changed it to twenty. If anyone knows how much it really might have been, let me know.  
__Thanks for all the reviews! I was kind of disappointed though that no one guessed that he was a jockey. Ah well.  
I really don't think I got Soda right in this chapter. He just doesn't seem like..Soda to me, but no matter how many times I rewrite it, I can't get it right. Suggestions would be appreciated. __  
DracoDefender: yeah, I couldn't remember Hinton ever specifying what exactly it was, so I figured maybe Pony didn't know either  
xodahmsoirxo: thanks again for reviewing!  
Alleycat08: well...guess you were wrong.  
booklover81: you were closest! He did have another job  
ANGELMEGAN: thanks  
Soda Is Sexy: Thanks so much! _

_Sorry if I left anyone out, but I got to go_


	6. Morals or Money?

Disclaimer: **I do not own _The Outsiders _or any of S.E. Hinton's characters**

Darry's POV

I woke up to the smell of coffee and bacon. Was someone already up? Or had I overslept? I grabbed my alarm clock. 6:20. No, right on time. I pulled on a pair of pants, and walked into the kitchen.

Soda was standing at the stove, flipping pancakes. I thought back to last night.

_Soda walked into my room. "Hey Dar," he said._

"_What?" I said a little harshly. I watched the light in his eyes dim a little._

_He sighed and sat on the edge of my bed. "Are you mad?"_

_I was. I really was. I didn't want my kid brother getting mixed up in these kinds of things. Much less him telling my other kid brother how fun it was, I didn't need Pony to think that this was okay for him to do too. _

_When I didn't answer, Soda looked up at me. I must have looked as angry as I felt, because he just hung his head and walked out. _

Soda turned around and saw me. He turned back to the stove quickly, and flipped a pancake onto a plate. He set it in front of me without looking at me. I looked down at it, and almost laughed. He had made a sad face out of blueberries.

"Hey Soda? Why is my pancake so sad?" I asked.

The corners of his mouth tried to grin, but he didn't let them. I think he was trying to be serious. He turned the stove down a little, and sat down across from me.

Instead of answering me, he asked, "Are you still mad?"

I took a breath. "Um."

That's when he smiled at me, and I couldn't help smiling back. "Nah. I'm not made at you…"

"But?"

"_But_, I still don't like what you're doin'. I mean, what if you got caught? Do you know how much bail would be? And think about what kind of example it is for Ponyboy."

"Darry, I'm being careful. Really, I am. And Pony doesn't need me to set an example for him. He already knows that he doesn't want to be like me, and I don't want him to either." Soda said.

"He still looks up to you, little buddy." I persisted.

Soda scowled, and opened his mouth to say something, but then changed his mind. "Forget about Ponyboy for a minute. If he wasn't in this, would you care?"

"You know that I would. I didn't like it even when he didn't know about it."

"Well…" Soda was trying to think of another argument when I smelled his pancakes burning. He pulled an envelope out of his pocket and set it on the table. Then he got up and threw the burnt pancakes away.

He poured more batter onto the griddle, and began placing chocolate chips in it for Pony. While he was doing this, I opened the envelope and pulled out the money. It was in two bundles, each held together by a rubber band. One of them held five dollars, and the other held one hundred.

"Soda, come back over here." I said.

"What?"

"Why are these in two different bundles?"

"That one," he pointed to the small one. "is what I make legally. _That_ one is what I make unlegally."

"Illegally." I corrected.

"Yeah."

I sighed. "This is a lot of money, little buddy." It was only a little less than what I made in a week at my construction job.

"Yeah, I know. But I don't want you to be mad at me every time I go do this. So, if you don't want me to anymore, than I won't. But just think about it, okay?" Soda said as Pony stumbled into the kitchen.

"Why is everybody awake?" Pony asked. "It's Sunday and it's not even seven yet."

Soda laughed at him. "Too early for you, kiddo?"

"Mmm." He grunted. He got a plate down and Soda put some of the chocolate pancakes on it.

"Well, I have to go to work, believe it or not." I said. "I'll see you guys later. What time are you going to work tonight?" I asked Soda.

"Five," he said.

"What time will you be home?"

"Nine or one. Up to you." He said. I did some quick calculations in my head.

"Alright, I'll see you around one. But just tonight; I haven't decided yet." I said.

"Okay," Soda said easily. "See you later."

When I pulled up to the construction site, I didn't see anyone. I looked at my watch. It was just barely seven, and work started at 7:30 on Sundays. I sighed, but got out anyway. At least this would give me a chance to think about Soda's new 'job'.

I was sitting there in the back of my truck when Meredith approached me.

"Hey there," she said, sitting next to me. "What are you doing here so early?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"But you didn't. I asked you." She said.

"Well, I'm not really sure." I said honestly.

"Oh, I get to guess. Let's see...you want to impress the boss? Maybe get a promotion?"

"That'd be nice, but no, I don't think so."

"Maybe you want to make up for being late last week?" She guessed.

"Nobody even knows about that, except you." I pointed out.

"Okay, okay, I thought maybe you had a guilty conscience. Alright I get two more guesses."

"Okay…"

"Oh! You were so infatuated with my beauty and charm that you couldn't wait to get here and see me?" She asked, teasing.

Smiling, I shook my head.

"Okay, so you don't care about advancing in the roofing industry, you don't have a conscience, and you're not looking for a relationship." She summarized.

I had to laugh. "You make me sound so nice."

"My final and most likely correct guess is that you were having some sort of problem at home, and your subconscious just wanted to get you out of there without even looking at a clock." She said.

I thought for a second. "Yeah, I guess so. Kind of."

"What are you waiting for? Tell me about it."

She sure was confident. "Only if you tell me why you're here so early."

"Same reasons as you are, except I knew I was getting here this early. I needed to get out." She said simply.

"I see." She was easy to talk to. "Well, you know I've got guardianship of my two kid brothers, right?"

"I do now. How old are they?"

"Soda is seventeen, and Ponyboy is fourteen." Her expression didn't change when I said their names. She just nodded for me to go on.

"Okay well I've been their guardian since my parents died almost a year ago. And a few months ago, Soda dropped out of school." I still felt guilty about that. "He got a job at the DX station, and was helping me out with the bills. Then he lost that job about a week ago, and got this job as a jockey at the Slash J." I explained.

Meredith nodded knowingly. "Did he get involved with the after hours scene?"

I looked at her. "I know things." She said.

"Yeah, he did. And if he gets caught…well I could lose him and Pony. But he brings in almost as much as I do in a week. He told me he'd stop if I told him to, but I'm not sure what to tell him." I said, surprised that I had told her so much.

"Have you ever been there after hours?" Meredith asked me.

"No."

Meredith gave a humorless smile. "I think you probably should before you decide. See for yourself how much danger they're in. Do you work tonight?"

"No," I said again.

"Then come with me to the Slash J. Um, that way you get both sides of it." She said in a funny tone.

I looked at her for a minute. She was serious. Why had she been there before? "Okay."

"I'll come over to your house around 9:30 then." She said, getting up and then walked away.

AN:_ Sigh. I'm beginning to feel that this is starting to drag. It feels like it's going very slow to me. But sometimes I'm overcritical of my work, so maybe not. Let me know, please. I'm also not completely sure of the money details. I found out that 1.25 was minium wage in the mid-late sixties, so I thought five bucks would be a good amount for 3-4 hours of work. I'm not sure if people would bet $200 (that is, everybody's bet put together) so that Soda could $20 if he won, but it sounded good. If you do the math, Soda won about 5 races according to me. Not bad for a rookie. And yes, to those of who were wondering, I'm considering making Meredith Darry's love interest...we'll see. Any guesses as to how Soda got fired? Review and I'll give you another chapter!_ :


	7. A Carton of Cigarettes and 2 Six Packs

Pony's POV

"Okay, see ya later." I said as Two Bit walked off. It was starting to get dark, and he had a date or something. I searched in my pocket for a cigarette, but I couldn't find one. But I did still have that ten dollars that Soda gave me, so I started walking toward the convenience store that was connected to the gas station. It felt weird not seeing Soda there.

There weren't any customers in the store, just the clerk. I found a pack of cigarettes, and brought them up to the counter. The girl at the register was very pregnant. In fact, she looked like she was about to bust. She was sitting on the stool, holding her stomach, and breathing in and out very slowly.

"I-is that all for you?" She asked, clearly in pain.

I nodded. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she started to say, but nearly screamed in the middle of the second word. She held up a finger, signaling me to wait.

After a few seconds, she exhaled deeply. "Sorry." She said, and tried to smile.

I wasn't sure what to say, so I just stood there for a minute. Her face was full of pain. I looked around, "Um, isn't there someone who could take your shift? You look like you should be at the hospital."

She looked up at me, "Look, kid, I'm doing fine. I don't need any damn help." She said defensively. She took a breath to continue, but apparently had another contraction. I had read somewhere that if contractions were five minutes apart, then you should go to the hospital, and it had been less than that since her last one.

She gave me a defeated look. "Can you drive?"

"Not legally…"

She tossed me her keys from the counter. "I've got my friend's car. It's around back. Turn the open sign around on the door, and lock it—make sure you use the deadbolt." She didn't even ask if I minded, but her tone was urgent so I just did it.

"Okay, let's go." I said after I'd done what she asked.

I helped her walk slowly towards the back door. I locked it behind us, and about to go towards the car when she stopped.

"Lemme just catch my breath." She said.

I waited until she finally started walking again. I opened the back door, and helped her get inside.

I got into the driver's seat and looked around me. I tried to remember everything Soda and Dad had showed me the few times either of them had given me a driver's lesson. I put the key in the ignition, and turned the car on. _Okay…now what? Accelerator is on the right, brake is on the left. _I put it in reverse, and tentatively stepped on the gas. I somehow managed to back out without incident, and was on the road before I realized that I didn't know how to get to the hospital.

"Which way?" I asked the girl whose name, I realized, I still didn't know.

"Straight, turn left when you get to the intersection." She gasped. "Distract me!"

"Um, okay." I didn't think it was the best idea to take my mind off of what I was trying to do, but there was that urgent voice again… "What's your name?"

"Liza." She said.

"I'm Ponyboy."

"Ponyboy?" She asked.

"Yeah, Ponyboy."

"Interesting," was all she said.

She had another contraction. I listened to her gasp and swear.

"Okay, kid…Ponyboy…half a dozen words isn't gonna cut it. Tell me your life story or something, or I'm going to scream."

_Yeah, no need to focus on the road._ "Um, well. I live on the East side of town, and have ever since I was born."

"You in the Shepard or Brumly gang?" She asked.

"Neither. I'm not really sure what you'd call us. It's just me, my brothers Soda and Darry, Two Bit Matthews, and Steve Randal."

"Oh, Dally's—oh." I guess she had known Dally.

"Yeah. Well, I live with my brothers,"

"How come?" She asked.

"My parents died about a year ago. My brother got guardianship."

"You like livin' with them?"

"Uh, yeah. I mean, it's no picnic, but it's better than a boy's home or something." I said.

"Damn straight. I've been there."

"To a boy's home?" I joked.

She gave a small laugh. "You know what I meant. So tell me about your brothers."

"Soda's real tuff. He used to work at the DX, actually. I guess you got his old job."

"Oh yeah."

"Well Soda…I don't know. He's always smiling, and he's usually happy."

"Hmm. I like you already." She said.

"Huh?"

"You, apparently, know the score. Just because your brother smiles doesn't mean he's happy, and you know that. Most people don't. And I don't mean 'like you' as in you should ask me out," she looked down at her stomach and gave a humorless laugh. "But I think you already knew that."

I smiled, and didn't say anything else. I was still worried that I was going to crash into something and kill her and the baby. Then Darry would kill me. And that's a lot of death.

"What about the other one—Darry, was it?" She asked in a strained voice.

"He's alright. He's real strict though." I said.

"But he cares?"

I thought about this. A few months ago, I would have laughed at her. But I knew better now. "Yeah."

She groaned. "Can you drive a little faster, _please_?"

"Sorry. Which way now?"

"Right, then the hospital is like ten miles away." She took a deep breath.

"Can you make it?" I asked as we reached a red light. I glanced back at her. Her face was red, and there were black lines from her mascara down her cheeks.

The light turned green, and she still hadn't answered me. I could see a diner coming up.

"Turn in. Now." She demanded. I pulled in to the diner. "Get help, Pony. Fast." She pleaded in a tiny voice.

I got out of the car and raced into the diner. "I need help!" I yelled. Everyone turned to look at me. "My friend is out in the car and she's about to have her baby! Can anyone help me?"

A few people turned back around and pretended they hadn't heard me. But I must have done something right because a middle-aged man stood up and walked toward me. "I'm a doctor," was all he had to say before I ran out the door again, with him behind me. He had brought his cloth napkin with him that he apparently hadn't used yet.

"I'm Thomas, what's her name?" He asked me as we approached the car.

"Liza," I breathed, opening the door.

"Hi sweetie. I'm going to take care of you, okay?" He asked her.

She grunted in acknowledgement.

"I'm going to need you to take off everything from the waist down." He said calmly.

Her eyes widened.

"It's okay. I'm right here." I said to her. "I won't let anything happen."

She took a deep breath. "The last time," she gasped. "Someone said that to me, I ended up like this."

The doctor nodded, and turned to me. "Take your shoelace off." He commanded.

I was confused, and wondering what the heck my shoelace had to do with anything, but I did it anyway.

Once I got it off, the doctor had covered Liza up with his big napkin the best he could.

"Do you trust me?" He asked her.

"Yes." She said, hesitating only a second.

"Okay. I'm going to ask your friend here to go get us some water and clean cloths. We need this to be as sterile as possible. Is that okay with you?"

She barely nodded, and I ran back into the diner. One of the older women had already heated up water and set aside some cloths and a pair of scissors.

"It's all clean, hon. And I called the hospital, they're on their way." She said.

"Thank you." I said, and she helped me carry the supplies outside.

Everything was still okay when we got there. The woman stayed with us during the whole thing.

I'm not going to go into the details, mostly because I didn't watch. All I know are the sounds, and let me tell you, they weren't happy. But, I did hear a baby cry after awhile. When I finally turned around, there was blood everywhere. The napkins were soaked, and the thing the doctor was holding was too. I think it was supposed to be the baby, but it sure didn't look like one.

The doctor, Thomas, had handed the baby to the woman, and turned his attention back to Liza. "How are you feeling, honey?"

Liza's only answer was soft crying, which gradually got harder.

After what seemed like an eternity, the ambulance finally showed up. A paramedic ran out of the vehicle, and took the baby. Two more came out with a stretcher for Liza.

When they started to move her, she sighed, and then passed out.

"You coming?" One of them turned back to ask me.

"Um, I guess." I said, looking back at the doctor.

"We'll follow you guys in my car." He said, so I followed the paramedic.

Darry's POV

Meredith showed at nine, carrying two six packs.

"Thirsty?" I asked her, letting her inside.

"These," she held up the beer. "Are our tickets to get in. It's either a six pack or twice the price of a bottle of merlot."

"You go there often?" I asked as she sat down on the couch.

"Not anymore," she said in a strange voice.

I walked into Ponyboy's room, planning on telling him I was leaving. I walked back out again.

"What's wrong?" Meredith asked.

"My brother's not here." I said.

"Well, should he be?"

I looked at the clock. "Technically, it's not his curfew for an hour, but he said earlier that he would be back by seven."

"Oh. Do you still want to go?"

"Yes, let me just leave a note…is there a phone at the Slash J?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think so."

I nodded, and got out a pad of paper.

_Pony, where are you kid? You said you'd be home a few hours ago. I'm going out for awhile, but I'll call at 10 to see if you're back—and you better be. _

_Darry_

"Okay, let's go." I said, telling myself not to worry. Knowing Ponyboy, he probably just lost track of time, and if he was lucky, he would look at his watch before ten. He hates watches, but I had told Soda to get him one last Christmas so that he'd wear it.

While we were in the truck, Meredith tried to prepare me for the tracks. "It's so much more than horse racing, Darry. But if that's the reason Soda's there, consider yourself lucky. Okay? Just don't be expecting a bunch of high school kids goofing around on horses for kicks."

I had expected that it wouldn't be an innocent-ish rodeo, but I was still surprised when we got there. A guy was standing at the gate with a girl on each arm. I'm not even going to begin to describe them. Meredith handed him the beer, and kept walking. I followed her. She seemed to know exactly where she was going and why.

Finally, she turned back to me. "So do you want to watch the races, find Soda, or see what else goes on around here?" She asked me.

"Is there a way of finding out who's riding when?" I asked, looking around me. I felt out of place, and to be honest, kind of vulnerable. I hate that feeling. I liked knowing what to expect, and knowing where everything was. I liked dependability.

"No," was all Meredith said. We ended up walking around because you weren't allowed to watch the races without betting, and I hadn't brought any money.

Everywhere was people. It was like a rave or something. People were drinking, and doing unprintable things to each other. I was starting to feel sick. I wanted to find Soda and get him out of here as fast as I could, but I didn't. I knew that he was almost eighteen, but I couldn't help but think of him as my baby brother when I looked around me. When had these kinds of things become acceptable?

"So? What do you think?" Meredith asked me.

"I don't like it." I said.

At that, she laughed. "Darry, this can't be that surprising."

"It's not that, it's just…I don't know. My big brother instinct is yelling at me to get the kid out of here."

"He's not a kid." She said.

"Yes, he is." I insisted.

"Think about the worst thing you've ever seen or done." She said.

The worst thing I've ever seen…police at my front door telling me my parents were dead, Johnny after the socs had gotten a hold of him, Dally being killed. The worst thing I've ever done…hit Pony that night, which caused him to run away, get in a fight, Bob's death, the fire, Johnny's death, Dally's death.

Meredith touched my arm to wake me up from my memories. "Is Soda being here worse than those things?" She asked.


	8. Tired

Pony's POV

Liza didn't come to until after we had gotten to the hospital and she had been checked into a room. 'Checked into a room'…that makes it sound like a hotel. Anyway, she was lying there in the bed, and I was sitting in the chair next to her. She looked over at me and smiled.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey."

Suddenly, a worried look crossed her face. "What happened to the baby?"

"He's fine. The doctors took him to the nursery to get some sleep." I reassured her.

"Oh."

"What are you going to name him?" I asked her.

"I'm not." She said in a strangled voice. "I can't keep him."

"What do you mean?" I was confused.

She sighed. "I um, I'm giving him up for adoption. Well, technically, I'm giving him to my cousin. It's a long story."

"Oh." I couldn't imagine that after all that, she wouldn't even get to watch him grow up.

She yawned, and turned over in her bed. I thought she had gone back to sleep, but she spoke again. "Call your brother, Ponyboy. It's late."

Darry's POV

I looked at the clock. It was past eleven, and Ponyboy still wasn't home. Meredith and I had left without finding Soda, and I expected to find Pony already here. Meredith had decided to stay with me, at least until Pony got here.

"Stop it." She said for the fiftieth time. "I can't stand it when people pace. It's annoying."

The phone rang, and I reached for it, but Meredith put her hand over it. "You've been telling me for the past hour how far you and Ponyboy have come. I'm not going to watch you bite his head off and ruin that because you're worried." She snapped, picking it up. "Hello?"

Pony's POV

"Is Darry there?" I asked hesitantly. I wasn't sure if I wanted to talk to him or not.

"He's a little busy. Is this Ponyboy?" The girl asked.

"Yeah…"

"Okay, well is there something I can tell him for you?"

"Um, yeah. Just tell him that I'm not in any kind of trouble, and that I'm sorry I'm late, and that I'll be home as soon as I can." I said.

"Okay, not in trouble, sorry, home soon. Anything else?" She asked.

I hesitated. "Is he really mad, do you know?"

Darry's POV

Meredith looked over at me. "Nah, he'll calm down. He's just a little worried….okay, I'll tell him. Bye." She hung up the phone, and I glared at her. She glared right back.

"What?" She asked.

"You had no right to do that. Where is he?"

"He didn't say." She said.

I was about ready to burst. Apparently she sensed that because she went on. "But, he said that he's not in any kind of trouble. And that he's sorry he's late, and he'll be home as soon as he can."

"Meredith, what if he's hurt?" I asked angrily.

"Then he would have said something. He sounded just fine, and you need to stop worrying so much." She retorted.

"How do you know if he would have said something or not? He's not your brother." I said.

She just rolled her eyes and stretched out on the couch. "I'm staying here tonight." She announced.

"No, you're not." I said.

"You want me to walk home? Fine." She said, getting up.

_Damn_. I thought. I couldn't let her just leave. Who knows who's out there right now. Angry as I was, I didn't want her to get hurt.

"Stop. Fine, you'll stay here tonight." I said with resignation in my voice. She glared at me again, but sat back down.

I went into Soda's old bedroom, and got his pillows and blanket and brought them into the living room. I would let her sleep in there, but it freaks him out when people sleep in his room—even though he never does. She accepted the bedding, and made herself comfortable.

"Do you mind if I wait out here until Ponyboy gets home?" I asked with a little nicer tone.

"No, but I'm going to sleep, so don't expect me to be much company." She said, and closed her eyes.

I must have dozed off too, because headlights pulling onto our street woke me up. The car stopped in front of our house, and I slipped outside, and turned the porch light on.

It was a nice car, and there was an older man driving it. Ponyboy was in the passenger seat. He slowly got out, and so did the man. All of a sudden, and I was really, really tired. All I wanted to do was go to bed and sleep all day. The man stepped toward me, and held out his hand.

"I'm Dr. Thomas Barnes." He said.

"Darrel Curtis." I returned.

I noticed that Pony hadn't moved since he got out of the car. I motioned him to come to me. He walked over to me slowly and stopped in front of me.

"Are you mad?" He asked.

"Eh. I probably will be in the morning, but right now, I'm too tired. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said, shivering. I put an arm around him, and he looked up at me, surprised.

"Where were you?" I asked him.

He looked at Thomas. "It's a long story. Can I tell you about it tomorrow?" He sounded just as tired as I felt.

"Sure." I turned to Thomas. "I'm not sure what you did, but thank you." I said.

He nodded. "You should be proud of what Ponyboy did tonight. I'll be in touch." With that, he left.

I looked down at Ponyboy. "Come on. Let's go to bed. You've got school tomorrow."

We walked in the house, and he saw Meredith on the couch. He didn't even ask what she was doing there, just said good night and went into his bedroom. I did the same.


	9. Gossip

_A/N. Well. Thanks for all the reviews. I'll address them personally at the end. Now about the Timothy thing. I completely forgot the part where Johnny says that he'd never been out of Tulsa except when he went to Windrixville, sorry. So I suppose that couldn't have happened, but I'm just going to leave it and remember that for future references. However, I did fix the technicalities like the calculator, Queen song, and the "talk" button on the phone. Let me know if there's anything else._ _Sorry it's so short, I'm working on more, but it's coming slowly, so I just decided to update anyway. _

Pony's POV

I didn't want to get out of bed. The past few days had been…dizzying. I had been certain that the whole thing with Liza had been a dream when I woke up the next morning. It wasn't until Darry asked me about it that I realized that it must have happened. But really, who goes into a gas station for cigarettes and comes out with a pregnant girl, and then proceeds to drive her around, 'helps' deliver the baby, and waits in the hospital with her until she's okay? It sounds like something that might happen in a cheap movie. For some reason, surreal things seem to happen to me more often than they should. I wanted a cigarette. But I never did end up getting any, did I? Figures.

And on top of all of that, there was school. And track. And homework. I groaned, and dragged myself out of bed.

Soda was already up, and in the shower. Darry was in the kitchen, cooking breakfast. He had taken the whole Liza thing relatively well. And I wasn't grounded even though I stayed past curfew, so that was good. Although I now had to listen to him complain about that girl, Meredith. It was pretty amusing really. Because for some reason, he let it bug him. It was funny watching him fluster about it.

"I was just about to come get you up," Darry said when I walked into the room.

Two Bit and Steve were lounging around in the living room, eating chocolate cake. Steve still came by almost every morning even though he and Soda didn't ride to work together anymore. There was something to be said for routine.

"By the way," Darry said, "that doctor called. The one who helped you the other night. He wanted me to tell you that Liza is out of the hospital."

"Oh okay," I wasn't in a talkative mood.

I thought about going over to see Liza, but I didn't know where she lived. I also wasn't sure when she'd be back at work, or if they still give you maternity leave if you're not keeping the baby. I still thought it was weird that she wasn't going to keep him.

At school that day, I heard some girls talking Liza. I guess that had written something about it in the newspaper since the circumstances were so…extreme.

"She's probably just giving it up so she doesn't have to mess with raising it."

"I know. I can't believe anyone would do that. It's bad enough she got pregnant, but she goes and makes it worse by refusing to keep it." The girl shook her head in disgust.

They continued talking about her like this until the bell rang. I wanted to say something, but they were socs and I wasn't really sure why she wasn't keeping it either.

When I walked out of my biology class, I saw some guys talking about Liza too. Come **on.** _Something_ else must have happened this weekend. Their conversation was a little different though.

"Did you hear about that greaser broad?" A soc was saying.

"Yeah. It's not surprising though."

"Well of course it's not. Those girls are disgusting."

"You think they could wear any _more_ makeup?"

"Not likely. And with the clothes they wear, it's like they're just asking to get knocked up."

This was starting to make me mad.

_xodahmsoirxo: Thanks for the review!  
Soda rox my sox off: Thank you so much. I've done that before with stories I like.  
theultimateoutsider: Thanks! I'm glad you like Liza's character  
Marauder and Q: (this is only addressing your review of Ch. 8): Thanks for telling me about the phone. I forget the time difference sometimes. And yeah, I know that it was rushed, but there was a reason for that.  
ANGELMEGAN: they are! I thought about killing the baby, but I couldn't.  
Smile because it happened: well thanks for the review. I think I addressed everything in the PM! _

_Again, sorry about the short chapter, and the longer wait on the update. _


	10. Untitled

_AN: I think that this is the longest it's taken me to update since I started this. Sorry about that. Too many tests to study for in one week to have time to write. But, here's some more, and thanks for the reviews._

Darry's POV

I turned the truck off, and looked at my watch. I was only a few minutes early, so I went ahead and got out. I figured I could set up a few things while I was waiting for everyone else. After getting out my tools and rearranging a few things, I found myself wandering around the site. No one was there. Not even Meredith. _Meredith? Where did that come from? Meredith…is annoying, and pestering, and bossy. _I tried to shake the thought out of my head, and looked up in time to see her car pull up to the site. _Speak of the devil…_

She got out of her car slowly and looked at me. She glanced around, and then sighed. She walked over closer to me. She met my eyes, and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. There was something different in her eyes. Defeat, maybe. She tugged on her sleeve a little to cover her wrist completely. I raised an eyebrow at her, but she just shrugged one shoulder and sat down next to me on my truck bed.

"Hi," She said quietly. It was weird to see her slip back into her 'usual' self after seeing another side of her a few days ago. I wasn't sure which I preferred. How she had acted that night was annoying as heck, but it was killing me to see her act all withdrawn like this.

"Hi," I said with a slight edge to my voice. She looked up at me, and I couldn't help but feel like she was reading my thoughts.

She looked down again when I met her eyes. She stared at her jeans for awhile, and I remembered that she didn't usually talk. I'm not sure what had caused her drastic personality change, but she hadn't stopped talking that night.

"Ponyboy's okay?" She finally asked, not looking up.

"Yeah, he's fine. I'm not sure how he gets himself into these kinds of messes, but he does pretty often."

Meredith looked up at me with sad eyes, and looked like she wanted to say something, but was distracted when another truck pulled up. It was Earl. The only thing that changed in Meredith's expression was her lips pursing.

Earl stepped out of his truck and walked over toward us. He had a smile on his face. "Hey Darry." I nodded to him, and his gaze drifted over to his sister. "Hi Meredith. Long time no see." He said in a friendly voice.

She smiled at him, but it looked forced to me. "Hey Earl."

"Where ya been?" He asked her, squeezing himself onto my tailgate next to her.

"I'm staying with a friend. Tracy, you've met her before." She said.

"Oh, alright. Well…it was good seeing you again." He said, getting right back up again.

"Yeah. I'll make sure and say goodbye before I leave." Meredith said with a false cheer in her voice.

He nodded and walked off to talk to someone else who had just arrived.

Meredith turned to me. "Well, Jim gave me an office-ish job doing paperwork here, records of construction and what not, so I should probably get started on that."

She had said all of that in the same cheery voice she had used on Earl, and walked away before I could say anything. I was kind of puzzled by this, but couldn't think about it for very long because the supervisor, Jim, arrived.

Jim kept us working hard all day, and I didn't get a chance to think about Meredith again until lunch. She was getting ready to leave, having finished the little paperwork that needed to be done, and was making plans to go to the movies that night with Earl. I wasn't sure why he hadn't seen her in so long, I had always assumed that they lived together, but they probably didn't.

I tried to distract myself with my work again, but my thoughts kept drifting back to Meredith. I was surprised to find myself wanting to see her again. _Maybe I could bump into her at the movies…_ I thought absentmindedly. _But why would I be at the movies? Ponyboy. He likes the movies, and he's always asking someone to go with him since Johnny died. I_ _know that he traces it all back to that day he got jumped when he was alone after a movie. I wonder if he feels guilty about Johnny and Dally. I do. _I continued to think about what had happened during those few weeks that our broken lives had fallen apart even more.

"—done for the day, right?" One of my co-workers was asking me. I scanned the roof quickly. It looked good to me.

"Yeah, I think so. See you tomorrow," I said, climbing down the ladder.

When I got home, Ponyboy was sitting at the kitchen table, trying to ignore Two Bit and writing something in a notebook.

"Hi," I said, sitting down across from him.

He looked up at me. "Hi…" He said uncertainly.

"What're you doing?"

"Just this thing for Mr. Symes." He said, gesturing at the notebook.

I thought for a second, trying to place the name. "Mr. Symes. Wasn't he your English teacher last year?"

"Uh-huh," He said while writing a few more sentences. "Remember that theme I had to write around the end of the year?"

…_No, not really._ "Yeah, what about it?"

He wrote down something else. "Well, Mr. Symes liked it, and he said that he thinks I'm a good writer or something, and so he has me do an essay for him like once a month."

"I didn't know that." I said, and Pony raised an eyebrow at me as if to say 'No, really?' But I agreed with Mr. Symes. Ponyboy was a good writer.

He wrote down a few more sentences, and I remembered what I wanted to ask him. "Hey Pony?"

"Yeah?" He said, not looking up.

"Are you doing anything tonight?"

"No…" He looked up at me. "Am I supposed to be?"

"No, but I'm going to the movies tonight. You want to come?" I asked.

He looked like he was going to say something, but then thought better of it. He thought for a minute. "Okay."

_AN: Sorry it was short again. When I read it over, it seemed very quick and kind of forced. Did anyone else get that when they were reading this? Also, did I spell 'Symes' right? _


	11. Y Chromosomes

**Disclaimer: I do not own _The Outsiders_**

Ponyboy's POV

I was hurrying, trying to get my hair the way I liked it. I knew that Darry was waiting for me, and I didn't want him to change his mind. I think. I wasn't really sure why he had asked me to go with him, or why he was going in the first place. Darry never went to the movies.

"Pony—" Darry had begun to call as I walked into the living room.

"I'm ready," I said.

Darry was wearing his best jeans, and a tight t-shirt. I wondered about it, but didn't say anything. He started walking towards the truck, and I followed him. No one was home except for us. I guess Steve was at the DX, and Two Bit…well, Two Bit was somewhere. He did a lot of things without us now that Dally and Johnny were gone.

Have you ever had that feeling that your family is shrinking? I thought of the gang as my family. Back when everyone was still…alive, there were the five of us, plus the gang made nine. Then Mom and Dad died. Seven. Then Johnny. Six. Then Dally. Five. Almost half of us had been wiped out. Life's not supposed to work that way. It's just not.

Darry didn't notice how quiet I was being. I usually talked more than this…or did I? Sometimes, I think about things a lot, and I can't remember if I actually said them or not. Or if I did say them, but I thought I didn't, so I don't listen when someone answers me. Or I thought them, so I wanted to say them, then I thought more, and thought them…wait. No, that's not right. I was giving myself a headache. I decided to change the subject…except I wasn't talking to begin with.

"What are we going to go see?" I asked Darry (yes, out loud).

He looked over at me. "I don't know. What's playing?"

"You just wanted to go to the movies for the heck of it?" I asked.

"I never said that."

He was being annoying. "So then why did you want to go to the movies if you didn't want to see a movie?" _Wait a minute…no. No, that couldn't be it. _

"Why do people usually go to movies when they don't want to see a movie?" He asked without looking at me.

_No. Darry? Get out. _

I hadn't realized that I hadn't answered him when he started talking again. "You remember the girl who was on the couch that night the doctor brought you home?" He asked me carefully.

_Yes? Really? So Darry has Y chromosomes after all. _

"Uh huh." I said.

He looked at me as if I should have put it together by now. Which I had. But it was more fun this way.

"Her name's Meredith," he said a little gruffly.

"I know," I said. After all, he had been talking about her an awful lot lately.

"How?" He asked suspiciously.

"You've mentioned her a few times."

_A few. A million. What's the difference?_

I must have chuckled or something because he looked over at me again. "What's so funny?"

"Well when was the last time you had a date?" I asked.

_Did I really just say that? Huh. I did, didn't I? When did Darry stop being so scary?_

Darry reached over and smacked me lightly.

"You know, I think I'm even too amused to be offended that you have ulterior motives for going out with me." I said.

He looked over at me to make sure that I really didn't mind, and then grinned as we pulled into the parking lot.

_A/N: Sorry it's short. And slightly..sporadic. If Ponyboy's thoughts were too confusing, tell me. I've thought most of his thoughts at some point or another, so it's possible that he could think them too. Anyway, it feels good to write, so an update may be approaching._


	12. Hey Darry

**Disclaimer: I do not own _The Outsiders_ **

_A/N: So, I was kind of nervous about Ponyboy's mess of thoughts, but almost everybody seemed to like it, so I might make him think more…lol. This chapter isn't as long as I'd like, but I'll continue the movie scene in my next chapter. By the way, do you guys prefer quick updates with shorter chapters, or longer waits for longer chapters? Also, do you prefer to stay in one person's POV throughout the whole chapter, or do you like different perspectives?_

_I'm just going to reply to all my reviews here_

_Theultimateoutsider: Thank you so much! I'm really glad (and surprised) that Darry is coming along so well. He's not as hard as Soda to write, for me, but still pretty hard, so it means a lot that you think I've got him down pretty good. I'm also glad that you could relate to Ponyboy's thoughts._

_Oblivious2theworld: hey, you finally decided to review!_

_Xodahmsoirxo: I'm glad that they didn't confuse you. They made perfect sense to me, but I was afraid that it would confuse most people. _

_Soda rox my sox off: Thank you for the review. And yeah, Darry likes her. But does she like him?_

_Elsie girl: I'm glad that the thoughts made it seem more like Pony. :_

_Doodlegirl: Sorry that his thoughts confused you.  
_

Darry's POV

"By the way," I said as nonchalantly as possible. "As far as Meredith needs to know, we do this fairly regularly. I don't, um, want her to…um."

"Know that you like her?" Pony said with a look on his face that told me he was going to blackmail me with this for the next forty years.

"Right. Can you do that?"

"Are you buying me popcorn?" He asked.

_The little conman. _"Mmhmm," I said through gritted teeth. Why did I put myself in this position again?

"Okay," he said happily. "Then I'm all ready for my weekly brother bonding night."

I raised an eyebrow at him, but it didn't seem to have the same effect that it used to. A few months ago, he would have looked down at his shoes, expecting me to reprimand him for being mouthy. Now he just mimicked me by raising one of his own eyebrows. I was still trying to understand the kid, but unlike Soda, I couldn't just ask him what was going on or how he felt about something. I think that he finally realized that, and I was glad because I wouldn't have been able to tell him.

Ponyboy really had grown up a lot in the past few months. He had to, really, but he shouldn't have had to. I felt bad that his chance to be a regular kid had been ruined when he was 13. When I was thirteen, all I had to worry about was whether I'd make 1st or 2nd string in football.

"What?" He asked me. I guess he noticed that I had been looking at him.

"Nothin'. You want a coke too?"

"Sure," he said as we stepped into the concessions line.

I began to scan the crowds for Meredith.

"Hey Darry?" I heard Ponyboy say.

"What?" I asked, still looking around.

"You want to pay for this?"

I hadn't realized that we were already at the cash register. I quickly paid the annoyed cashier and followed Pony to some seats. It was the drive in, but I thought we'd have a better chance of seeing Meredith if we weren't in a car. I figured that if I didn't see her after half an hour, then I would casually stroll through the rows of cars and see if I could find her.

"Hey Darry?" I heard Ponyboy say again.

"Yeah?"

"Why'd Soda get fired?"

I looked at him. I wasn't expecting anything deeper than 'pass the popcorn'. "Ponyboy…we've already been through this. Soda should be the one to tell you."

"But he won't! I never see him anymore." Ponyboy said in a voice that surprised me.

I wasn't sure what to say. "Well…have you asked him straight out to tell you?"

He gave me a look that was close to a glare. "No. Like I said, I never see him."

I sighed. "Look, it's not something that he likes to talk about a lot."

"So?"

I could tell that he was feeling hurt that Soda wouldn't talk to him. But I couldn't just tell him. "Pony, either you can ask him, or I can tell him that you want to talk to him. But that's the best I can do."

He was watching me while I said this, and my body language must have satisfied him because he sighed. "Okay." And he didn't say anything else about it.

We sat in silence for a bit, waiting for the movie to start. I was still glancing around for Meredith, but without any luck.

"Hey Darry?" I heard Pony ask once again. Was it physically impossible for the kid start a conversation with a different question?

"What?"

"Isn't that her?" He nodded in the direction of a pretty girl with shoulder length brown curls, and dark blue eyes.

"Yeah. That's Meredith." I whispered.

Pony looked at her expectantly. After nothing happened, he looked back at me. "So…this is fun…but aren't you going to say something to her?"

I didn't answer him, but was saved from any more questions because the movie started, and Pony quickly shut up.

Meredith and Earl were taking seats a few rows in front of us. She was laughing, but it was fake, I could tell. She didn't laugh very often anyway. But when she did, it kind of lit up the room. That sounds cliché…but it's true.

I watched Meredith and Earl for awhile. Meredith didn't seem interested in the movie, and I saw her start to look around. I didn't want her to see me watching her, so I redirected my gaze to the screen. I felt like I was in high school again.

About ten minutes into the movie, Pony turned to face me. "You know what? I've seen this one before," he stated simply.

I couldn't help but grin. "It took you that long to figure it out?"

"These kinds of movies, they don't have much of a plot and they all have most of the same actors, so it's hard to tell if you've seen it before or not." He explained.

I glanced at the screen, and that back at Pony. "Well then why do you watch them so often?"

He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it again. I could see him change his mind. "I dunno," was all he decided to say.


	13. Hey Darry Part 2

Ponyboy's POV

Darry was staring at something, and it wasn't the movie. I tried to follow his gaze, but he can somehow stare and move his eyes around at the same time. He kept looking back at the movie. I finally realized that he was watching Meredith, who was sitting a few rows ahead of us. But she was getting up. She said something to the guy she was with, and started walking down the rows. I saw Darry notice this, and immediately fix his eyes on the screen.

"She's coming over here," I informed him.

He turned to look at me. "We do this all the time."

"Sure, sure. Whatever you say, Dar."

"Hi Darry," she said in a quiet voice.

"Oh, hey Meredith," he said in an offhand voice.

She sat down in the chair beside me. "Are you Ponyboy?"

"Yeah. Nice to meet you," I said. I liked that she didn't ask him who I was as if I wasn't there. It annoys me when people do that.

"So is it just the two of you?" She asked.

I waited for Darry to say something, but he didn't. _Okay…_ "Yeah, it's just us."

Nothing happened. I don't mind silence, but when it's this awkward, I try to avoid it. "Darry, I'm going to go get a coke." I said and walked off before he could mention that I already had one.

It wasn't until I heard some taunting shouts that I remembered that I shouldn't be walking by myself, even if it was only to the concession stand. Right after Johnny and Dally had…died, the socs had left us mostly alone for awhile. But that was over now, and they were getting bored. Greasers were getting jumped like there was no tomorrow. I considered turning around and walking back towards Darry, but a familiar voice stopped me. I couldn't place it right away, but as I walked closer, I realized it was Liza. She was surrounded by four or five guys, but seemed to be doing okay for the moment. I considered going in there and trying to stop them, but I realized that the odds were anything but in my favor. I ran back towards Darry instead.

He was talking to Meredith, but didn't look very happy. I didn't really care at the moment. "Darry," I said breathlessly.

"What?" He looked a little alarmed.

"Come on," I said, beginning to turn around. I heard him get up and follow me.

"Ponyboy, wait. What's going on?"

"It's Liza. There were socs, and…" I let my voice trail off because we were there.

Now Liza was on the ground, and so were a few of the guys. No one else was around—they were all in their cars or making out. Or both.

"Do we have a problem here, boys?" Darry's voice boomed.

They all turned to look at him, and I realized that none of them were older than 15 or 16. I could see their 'leader' size Darry up, and used his better judgment. He walked away without a word. Two of the other boys followed him, but the last two were more hesitant to leave. They were the ones on the ground near Liza. One of them had a knife, I realized. He slowly stood up and walked over to Darry. The other one just watched his friend while Meredith helped Liza up. I hadn't even realized that Meredith had followed us. The one that was left noticed this and moved towards her again. I stepped in. I could hear the other guy try to fight with Darry, but was silenced by a solid blow. I decided to do the same and just punched the guy before he could do anything. He wasn't really expecting this since I was smaller than he was, and fell down. I kicked him in the ribs, and walked back over to Darry.

I realized how easy it was to take them on when it was two on two instead of the five on one that it would have been. I felt a little proud of myself; I _could_ use my head after all.

"Come on," Darry said and we all followed him back over to our seats. Liza hadn't said anything, but she looked angry.

"I appreciate the sentiment, but I was doing just fine on my own," she finally spouted.

I raised my eyebrows at her. She glared back, but her gaze softened almost immediately. She sighed.

"But, thanks," she added.

"How've you been?" I asked her. This was the first time I'd gotten to talk to her since she'd had her baby.

"I've been just fine," she began to lower her voice. "Ponyboy, I really appreciate what you did for me the other night. And tonight. But damn it, kid. I don't need you to be looking out for me or worrying about me. Okay? I can hold my own."

I was a little shocked. I dumbly nodded, and so did she.

"I'll see you around," she said with finality and walked away.

I didn't get her. What was her problem? I thought…I thought that we were friends now. I mean, does helping deliver your baby not qualify as a friendly act of kindness?

I noticed that Meredith began to walk off as well, and I glanced over at Darry. He was looking tiredly at me. I walked over to him.

"We'd better go, Ponyboy. The socs are going to be looking for us soon," Darry said.

I nodded and followed him to the truck.

We sat in silence for awhile. After it had been more than ten minutes, I realized that Darry wasn't taking me home. He was just driving. I waited to see where he would take us.

In circles, apparently.

"Hey Darry?" I asked.

"Hmm," he said in a distracted voice that told me he wasn't really listening.

"We goin' anywhere?"

He seemed to wake up a little from his reverie. "Um, no. I guess not."

"…okay."

He rubbed the bridge of his nose and glanced at me. "You know Pony, it was really a good thing that you did. Coming and getting help before jumping in there, I mean."

"Well, I wasn't itching to get my head busted in," I said.

He smirked a little bit, but didn't say anything else.

"So what happened with Meredith?" I asked, wondering if this was an acceptable thing for us to be talking about. I wouldn't have considered it a few months ago, but things were changing. If Darry and I could go to the movies together, fight some Socs together, and ride around aimlessly in the car without fighting with other, then maybe we could talk about girls too.

He looked at me warily, but said, "Well, she asked me if I thought she and Jim from work would make a good couple."

My eyebrows went up. "Oh. What did you say?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "I said I didn't know him well enough to tell."

I tried not to smile, really I did. "Well. That's uh, one way to go."

"Yeah," he sighed. He rolled his eyes.

_A/N: Okay, so I'm not too happy with this chapter. Especially the ending. But, I don't really have time to redo it, and I've got an idea on how to end this story, so I'm just going to forge ahead. I just realized that I spent the last three chapters on a span of time about an hour long. Sorry if it seemed dragged out._

_To the reviews…_

_Booklover81: Thanks. I say that all the time, so I thought maybe Pony would too.  
xodahmsoirxo: Well I hope this one was somewhat worth the wait. _

_Elsie girl: If this was a better chapter, then I would totally dedicate it to you for your awesome review. Thanks so much._

_Secret Pleasures: Well, you got your wish. No Meredith and Darry relationship. I wanted him to like her, but I realized that I couldn't make it a happily ever after between the two of them because she didn't seem right for him to me. I'm glad you appreciate my use of spell check: _

_Oblivious2theworld: And just how would you know what high school is like:_

_Soda Is Sexy: So glad that you appreciate my sarcastic attempts at humor. And I'm sorry to say that you'll have to wait another chapter or two to find out about Soda. Evil laugh_


	14. Just My Big Brother

_A/N: Unlike the last three chapters, a few days has past since the previous chapter. Just so you don't get confused. :_

Darry's POV

I got home late that night. It was already dark out. I stepped into the house to be greeted by Ponyboy yelling. _Uh oh. _I walked in further, and saw that Soda and Ponyboy were in their bedroom. Pony didn't look happy, and neither did Soda.

"Ponyboy, stop it." Soda said in a pleading voice.

"Why? Why were you lying to me?" Ponyboy said in a tone I'd never heard him use with Soda.

"Because! I didn't want you to think of me like the trash that they do!" Soda was raising his voice now.

"You're a liar." Ponyboy said in a very low voice, and stormed out of the room. He didn't see me standing there, and almost ran into me.

"What's going on?" I asked.

Ponyboy just glared at me, and walked towards the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" I asked.

"Out." Was his reply, and he was gone.

Soda walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. I followed him and sat down beside him.

"What happened?" I asked.

Soda shook his head, "I really screwed up Darry."

Ponyboy's POV

I just ran. I ran down our street, past Johnny's old house, past Buck's, past the Dingo, past the Nightly Double, and past Jay's. I didn't want the memories to come back, but for some reason, I ended up at the park. The park really isn't that far from our house, but I think I went in a circle at some point. I sat down on the side of the fountain, and looked at the blood stains on the concrete that had long turned black.

I thought about Soda. I could see his face in my mind. His laughing eyes and his hair that never seemed to stay in one place. I thought about how he had always been there for me. He was my brother. I used to think that he was the only one who cared about me. I knew better now, but still. I didn't think that I could ever get this mad at him. We almost never fought, and if we did, there was a good reason. Well this was a good reason. Sodapop had lied to me.

"_Hey Pony," Soda said distractedly. _

"_Are you doin' something?" I asked._

_Soda looked up from whatever he was doing and looked at me. "Not anymore. What's wrong?"_

_I sat on the bed. "What makes you think anything is wrong?"_

_He raised an eyebrow at me and sat cross-legged on the bed a few feet away from me. _

_I sighed. "Soda? How come you got fired?" I said it real soft, and I wasn't sure if he had heard me because he didn't answer for awhile._

"_It wasn't that big of a deal," he finally said. "I just came in late too many days."_

_I looked at him. I shook my head real slowly. _

_He looked down and played with a string on the blanket. "It…it was because of Sandy."_

_Now I was really confused. Not because I couldn't figure out what Sandy had to do with anything, but because he had tried to make me believe something other than the truth. _

"_We got this new boss," Soda went on, "and he was a super soc. He found out somehow that Sandy got pregnant and that I had been datin' her. I really don't know how he could've found that out, though. You think he had spies out or something?" _

_I stared at him. This wasn't my brother. I don't know if I was just tired or what, but I couldn't get over the fact that _Soda _had lied to me. _

"_I trusted you," I said._

_Now Soda looked confused. "What are you talking about, kid?"_

"_Why didn't you tell me about Sandy in the first place?" I asked in a tone that I realized later made me sound like Darry._

_Soda looked at me earnestly. "It makes me feel bad, I guess. That new boss, he told me that I was dirt because I knocked up some innocent girl. Except that I didn't. But he didn't want to hear that."_

"_So you told me something different so that you wouldn't feel bad?" _

"_Ponyboy, listen to me. This is why I didn't want to tell you. I didn't want you to look at me different." _

"_I'm not lookin' at you different because of that. I'm lookin' at you different because you told me that you would never lie to me. Remember that?"_

_Soda started to look frustrated. "Okay, okay. Just calm down a second, kiddo."_

"_No! I'm not going to calm down." I started to raise my voice a little._

_That was when Soda started to look hurt. _

I couldn't relive it anymore. I hated it when Soda looked like that. I started to feel guilty for jumping on Soda like that. Why did I make such a big deal out of it anyway? I sighed and looked up at the stars. I knew why I had made a big deal about it. Soda was supposed to be there for me, and he wasn't supposed to keep stuff from me. And then when I asked him about it, he told me something different. And I wasn't expecting that from him. I got enough not-so-true answers from Darry when he didn't want me to know something, but Soda was different. He used to tell me everything.

I sat there for a long time, just thinking. It wasn't until I noticed how bright the moon was that I realized Darry didn't know where I was. I sighed, and started walking home.

The light was still on, but I didn't know time it was so I couldn't be sure if that was unusual or not. I opened the door quietly, hoping that no one but Darry was there so that he wouldn't yell at me in front of everyone, but at the same time hoping that everyone _was_ there so that maybe he'd tone it down a little.

Only Darry was there. And he looked angry.

"Where have you been?" He demanded.

"At the park," I said miserably.

I realized that I wanted to talk to someone. Normally, that would have been Soda, but seeing as how he wasn't here and it was about him, maybe…just maybe, I could talk to Darry about it.

"Do you know what time it is? Did you even—"

"Darry." I cut him off.

"What?"

I looked him in the eye. "Right now…I don't need my legal guardian Darrel Curtis. I just need my big brother Darry. Just Darry," I said quietly.

He hadn't been expecting that. He didn't really say anything.

"Please? You can yell at me later. But right now…"

"What's wrong?" He asked in a kinder voice.

I sat down beside him on the couch, and allowed myself to make believe that he really was just my big brother. Keeping that in mind, I found myself telling him everything that had happened that night. And surprisingly, he just listened until I was finished.

Darry seemed to be thinking about everything I had said. He looked a little uneasy.

"Pony," he sighed, "I really don't know what to tell you." He thought a little more before speaking again. I could tell that he was trying real hard to not get all parental on me, and I appreciated it. "Look, you know that Soda didn't mean anything by not telling you at first. I don't really understand why you got so upset about it."

I looked at him warily.

He looked up at the clock. "Soda said that he doesn't have to work tomorrow, so if you want to work this out with him, then you'll get your chance tomorrow."

"Was he mad after I left?" I asked.

Darry gave me a small smile. "What do you think? No, Soda wasn't mad. Soda's never mad at you."

I didn't say anything. Darry let out a deep sigh.

"Okay," he said. "Don't go out without telling me where you're going again, or there'll be hell to pay, do you hear me?"

Well, I was surprised that he had lasted that long. "Yeah, yeah, I hear you."

"I mean it." He gave me a long hard look that I couldn't help but grin at. He raised his eyebrows at me.

"I'm sorry, and I won't do it again." I said to please him.

"Mmm hmm. I'm going to bed, and so are you," he said, getting up.

"Darry?"

"Yeah…"

"Thanks," I said quickly. Just talking about it had helped a little.

"Sure," he said, and messed up my hair before retreating to his bedroom.

I couldn't help but get the sense that this was the complete opposite of how it was supposed to be. I wasn't supposed to be fighting with Soda. I wasn't supposed to be on good terms with Darry, or seeking advice from him. Well, not that that's a bad thing. I'm glad that I can talk to him now. But, it's just not normal.

I felt awful.

_A/N: I think that I'm not supposed to put personal responses to reviews on here. Is that right?_

_Anyway, this chapter was really hard to write, because I had pretty much nothing to go by on a fight between Darry and Soda. But reading over it, it still came out better than I thought. Let me know what you thought. Honestly. _


	15. You're not worthless

**Disclaimer: I do not own _The Outsiders_**

Pony's POV

I had stayed awake that night until Soda got home, expecting him to come into our room. But he didn't. I heard him come home around two, but he slept in the living room. I wasn't sure if he did that because he was mad at me, or because he thought I was mad at him. I wasn't sure which to hope for.

The next day was a Saturday, so it was okay that I hadn't gone to sleep for hours after Soda got home. I meant to sleep in a little late, but that's not really possible in my house. If you can get back to sleep after listening to Darry run around until he leaves for work, then you'll just be woken up again by Steve or Two Bit coming in, or Soda if he gets bored and is awake before you. So, I was awakened before 8 in the morning. I really didn't want to run into Soda if he was mad at me, so I headed straight for the shower. Two Bit made some comment or other about my boxer shorts that were all I was wearing, but I ignored him.

I got dressed in the bathroom, and walked back into my room. Soda was sitting at my desk, flipping through a magazine. He looked up when I walked in, but then looked back at the magazine. I softly closed the door behind me.

I sat down on the bed and leaned against the headboard. "Hey."

"Hey," he said, "you still mad?" He turned the page of the magazine.

"No. You?"

"I never was." He said it gently, but it made me feel even guiltier.

I felt like apologizing, but I couldn't. He shouldn't have lied to me. I couldn't get over that.

When I didn't say anything else, Soda sighed. He put the magazine down, and looked at me. "Okay. How about you tell me why you got so upset, and then I'll tell you why I didn't want to tell you the real reason. Sound good?"

"Why do I have to go first?"

Soda grinned, "'Cause I said so."

I grinned back, but it faded pretty quick. "Um. I uh, I don't know." I tried to get my thoughts in the right order, and Soda waited. "I guess I felt like everybody was lying to me. Darry always does, but that's because he doesn't want me to know how bad things are. I can deal with that, I guess. And Two Bit, well, it's hard to tell when he's telling the truth or pulling your leg. Steve…" I never talked to Steve, and Soda knew that, so I didn't bother finishing the sentence. I looked away from his face, and stared at the blanket instead. "But, you never did. And I guess it seemed like you weren't telling me anything anymore. Like with your new job. And then you wouldn't tell me why you got fired even though Darry didn't care. I thought…I don't know. I always tell you everything, and I thought that…that you wanted to tell me stuff too. And I guess I just kind of…lost it. Like too much had built up or something." I shrugged, still not looking at him. I knew that he didn't know any of that, and that he probably felt guilty now. And I wasn't mad at him anymore, and I didn't want him to feel bad. But I knew he would, but that didn't mean I had to watch it. He has very expressive eyes.

"Ponyboy," he said softly.

"What?"

"Look at me."

I did, reluctantly. He didn't look mad, or all that uncomfortable. His eyes were soft, and he looked like he even understood.

"That new boss that I was telling you about, Jack, he was a real jerk. He calls me into his office one day, and tells me to sit down. He told me that he had to let me go, and I asked him why. He said that he couldn't have 'worthless scumbags who knock up innocent girls and then don't take responsibility for it' working for him." Soda's eye got dark, and his voice was edging on bitter. "I wanted to hit him. I almost did, but I figured that he was the type to call the fuzz 'bout somethin' like that. I didn't let on, but what he said really got to me. I been called a lot of things, but worthless?" He whispered the last word.

"You're not worthless, Soda," I said fiercely.

He gave me a sad smile, and continued. "Anyway, I just walked out of there. And…I didn't tell you, because well, it hurt, ya know? And I knew that it wasn't that important anyway, and I felt stupid that I let it get to me. I didn't think you'd want to know what people were calling your big brother. Savvy?"

"I'm sorry," I said, meeting his eyes again.

Soda just grinned at me. We sat there for awhile, not saying anything.

After a few minutes, though, Soda spoke. "Well. This has been fun. We should do it again in a few years."

I started to smile, but was interrupted by a yawn.

"How much sleep did ya get?" Soda asked me.

I shrugged.

"Yeah, me too. Scoot over."

_A/N: Sorry it's short, but I felt that adding any more would take away from it. So it's left here. I think that there's only going to be one more chapter to wrap this baby up. Let me know if there's anything that you feel needs more closure (like the Liza situation, or Meredith) and I'll try to do that. And guess what, kids? The next chapter is going to be Thanksgiving! Even if it is February. Just so you don't expect anything, the update probably won't be until next week because I'm going to be gone all weekend. Thanks for reading :_


	16. Spaghetti Squash

**Disclaimer: I do not own _The Outsiders_**

"Wake up! …..Wake up! ...Waaake uuuup!" Two Bit yelled.

I felt the weight of Soda's arm disappear as he rolled over.

"Go away Two Bit," Soda said irritably.

This only made Two Bit leap onto our bed and begin to bounce. I kicked him.

"What do you want? It's like 7 in the morning," I said.

"7 in the morning on _Thanksgiving. _The parade is on!" Two Bit said, smiling.

"Great. You should go watch it," I told him as Soda groaned.

Two Bit stood up on the bed. He began jumping wildly.

"Two Bit! Stop it," Soda said even though he was laughing. "You're gonna break the bed."

"Well then get your butts outta bed already. They're gonna show Tom soon!"

I sighed and followed Soda out of bed. Two Bit wasn't going to let up until we did.

"So who's Tom?" Soda asked once we were in the living room.

Two Bit looked at him incredulously. "Tom the Turkey."

Soda smirked, "It has a name?"

Two Bit nodded excitedly.

Two Bit was being too much of a morning person for me. I wandered into the kitchen to find Darry cooking eggs. I leaned against the counter and yawned.

"Hey kiddo," Darry said distractedly. He sounded almost exactly like Dad when he said that. Darry was always more laid back during the holidays, and he always reminded me more of Dad when he was like that.

"Why's Two Bit here this early?" I asked him, blocking my father's face from my head.

Darry turned to look at me, and grinned. "He wake you up?"

I nodded.

Darry turned back to the eggs. "He said his TV was broken so he couldn't watch Tom at his house."

"Hmm," I grunted.

The eggs were almost done so I went to get the tomatoes and grape jelly out of the fridge. It was actually pretty full—Darry must have gone grocery shopping yesterday. I pulled out the things I needed and set them on the counter. Behind the tomatoes was a can of jellied cranberry sauce. The kind that looks like it's supposed to be jello but got messed up in the process.

"Darry, no one likes this stuff," I said, holding up the can.

Darry sighed. "I know. But… Johnny did. Remember? I guess I wasn't thinking and just got it out of habit." He said this in a gruff voice that he used to try to hide his emotions.

"Oh," I said and put it back in the fridge.

Darry didn't say anything else as he started dishing the eggs out onto plates. I silently helped him fix them the way everybody likes them. I grabbed mine and Soda's plates and followed Darry into the living room.

"Hey kid, get me a beer, will ya?" Two Bit said to me, taking his plate from Darry.

"Get it yourself," I answered, sitting down on the couch next to Soda.

Two Bit made no effort to get up. He just leaned against the back of the couch and watched the parade some more.

"You know," Soda began, "we wouldn't be good at holding up those balloons, because the whole time we'd be thinking about how cool it would be if they got loose."

Two Bit laughed and nodded in agreement.

After awhile, I got bored with Two Bit's beloved parade. Soda had too, but he and Steve were playing poker now. I went into the kitchen again to find Darry to making a pie. If you want a funny sight, it's a big, muscular greaser making a pumpkin pie. I smirked.

"Nice apron you've got there," I commented.

He raised his eyebrows, trying to look menacing, but the effect just didn't work. "Don't get mouthy."

I rolled my eyes. "You look like Dad on holidays."

He looked up at me, and then carefully away. "Why do you say that?"

I shrugged, "I don't know. You just do. More relaxed or something."

Darry's POV

I glanced around the kitchen. My eyes landed on Pony, and I could hear Soda and Steve and Two Bit in the living room. But that was it. Holidays used to be huge events—Dad made sure of that. We had shrunk so much in the past few years. Our family and friends had basically been cut in half. But as I looked at Pony, I realized that in spite of everything, we were okay.

"Do me a favor?" I asked.

Pony nodded.

"Put all of this," I gestured to the bowl full of pumpkin mixture, "into this," I said pointing to the pie crust.

He gave me a strange look, but started anyway.

I poured myself a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter.

"So what happened to Liza the other night?" I asked him.

Pony shrugged. "I don't know, really. After we got those guys to leave her alone, she just kept saying how she didn't help. I'm not really sure why it was such a big deal to her."

_Can I do this? Can I give him advice?_ "Well…" I started, and Pony looked up at me, surprised. I swallowed, and went on. "From what you've told me about Liza, it sounds like she's had a pretty rough life. Maybe…well, maybe she's lost her trust."

Pony's eyebrows lowered a little, and then he looked back down at what he was doing. He probably thought what I said was stupid. I sighed inwardly and pulled some things out of the fridge.

Pony looked back up at me when I set a large, yellow gourd on the counter.

"What is that?" He asked.

I grinned a little. "You'll see once it's cooked."

He looked like he was about to ask something else, but then changed his mind and wiped his hands off. "I'm done," he said.

"You want to wash these off for me?" I asked.

His head turned toward the living room at the sound of loud, carnival-reminiscent music. He nodded gratefully, and I handed him the squash and some potatoes.

He started washing the vegetables while I preheated the oven.

"You liked Meredith?" He asked me suddenly.

I opened the fridge again so he couldn't see my face. "Yeah." I pulled out the butter and set it on the counter.

"You hadn't liked a girl in a long time," Pony said. I wished he would drop it.

"…okay."

"You can, you know. Date people. It wouldn't kill us," he said, though the tips of his ears were turning red.

I carefully hid my smile, and shrugged. "We'll see."

Pony's POV

A few hours later we sat down to dinner. It was just me, Soda, Darry, and Steve because Two Bit's mom wanted to spend some 'quality family time together'. He'd be back for dessert.

Darry brought out the yellow gourd thing and set it on the table. It was cut in half and there were all these noodle-looking things inside of it.

"What is it?" Soda asked, cocking his head.

Darry gave a little grin. "It's called spaghetti squash."

Soda poked the mass of strings with his fork. "It doesn't smell like spaghetti."

"Maybe because it's not," Steve said.

"Here, just try it," Darry said.

Soda took a bite, and smiled. "Noodles out of a vegetable!"

"They aren't noodles," Steve said.

"Close enough," I said. I tried it, and it wasn't bad. It didn't taste like noodles at all, but I'm not sure how to describe it. Kind of sweet, and almost nutty.

Along with the spaghetti squash we had turkey, potatoes, rolls, and Johnny's cranberry sauce. We all had some of it, even though none of us liked it.

Life...it's weird most of the time. Always changing and surprising you. Nothing ever seems to stay the same. I'm still trying to figure out why.

"Ponyboy, what is this I hear about you making a C on the last Spanish test? I thought you knew that making all A's is your…"

I tuned Darry out. I guess some things stay the same.

_A/N: Dun-dun-dun-dun! The End! Okay, so seriously, I'm sorry if the ending was a little…cheesy, for lack of a better word. It didn't come out like I wanted it, but I realized I'd been spending way too much on this and that I should just let you guys judge for yourselves.  
And in case you were wondering, yes, spaghetti squash does exist. It's pretty good, actually. _

_I can't thank you guys enough. Your reviews have given me so much confidence, and have helped me to start writing again. I've actually started writing another book (non fanfiction). But I'll still write fanfics periodically, because it was fun. Anyway, thanks so much for reading! _

_Smiles,_

_Jessica_

_P. S. Leave reviews! Even if you're a first time reader, let me know what I'm doing right or wrong. Even though I'm done with one doesn't mean I can't use your tips in something else. :_


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